A California Superior Court judge has ruled that the state’s Department of Health Care Services may continue to enroll thousands of dual Medicare and Medi-Cal patients into managed care plans over the objections of physicians and several other groups.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shellyanne Chang said Friday in her ruling that the Los Angeles County Medical Association and other groups that filed a lawsuit last month did not prove that the state program, called Cal MediConnect would harm patients. Based on her findings, she denied the groups’ request for a preliminary injunction.

In the lawsuit, the groups called the state’s Cal MediConnect program ill-conceived and confusing, and too big to be called a pilot program. At least 200,000 Los Angeles County residents, known as dual eligibles because they have both Medicare and Medi-Cal, would be affected.

“The members of the Los Angeles County Medical Association are disappointed by the court’s ruling to move forward with the Cal MediConnect demonstration, which is ill conceived, ill designed, and will jeopardize the health of many of the state’s most vulnerable population, the poor the elderly and the disabled,” said Dr. William Averill, a Torrance-based cardiologist and executive board member of the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

The MediConnect project has been promoted by DHCS as voluntary and works in conjunction with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Its intent is to coordinate medical, behavioral and long-term care for the dual eligibles, officials have said.

If enrolled into MediConnect, their needs would be overseen by a managed care plan. Some of those eligible already have been enrolled.

But members of the medical association, among other groups, have said the state is moving too fast to implement the program and that there is no easy way to understand how to opt out. Other groups joining in the lawsuit include Communities Actively Living Independent & Free, Westside Center for Independent Living and Southern California Rehabilitation Services, Inc.

A spokesman for DHCS said the agency won’t comment on the ruling or ongoing litigation, but said the department announced on Friday that enrollment in Alameda and Orange counties will be postponed to July 2015 “to allow more time to achieve plan readiness.”

In response to the ruling, Rocky Delgadillo, the chief executive officer of the medical association, said: “We’re going to go through all of our options, including any potential appeal, as well as any legislative opportunities to delay the program or prevent it from hurting patients here in Los Angeles. There is a great risk of moving one patient from one physician to another and there’s a real potential for a lapse in care.”